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ROBERT R. GRAVES, OE MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA. Letters .Patent No. 66,583, dated July i), 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN GANG-PLOUGH.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, ROBERT R. GRAVES, of the city and county of Montgomery, and State of Alabama, have invented a new and useful Improvement in (,lrang-Plouglis;` and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part` of this specification, and in which- Figure'l isa side elevation of my invention.

Figure 2 is a topview of the same.

Figure 3 represents the rail K and its attachments.

Figure 4 represents a longitudinal section of the :arm N and lever P and their connecting apparatus.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures.

In this invention the dip of the plough is regulated, and means-are provided by which upon encountering an obstacle vthe ploughs may be withdrawn without backing the team. Ordinarily in ploughing, when the plough points come in contact with a rock, the root of a tree, Or other obstacle in the ground, the plough cannotbe raised vertically to clear the obstruction, but the team has to be hacked so as to allow the plough to be drawn back and then raised. My invention is designed principally to-obviate this difficulty by a new, simple, and durable arrangement. It is also designed to regulate -the elevation and direction of the ploughs, to adjust them 'to any soil, and to insure the catching ofthe forward plough under the soil in suchl a direction as to cause all the ploughs to enter the ground properly. In connection with these new devices there is also a novel arrangement for changing the lateral directionof the gang.

In order that others skilled in theart to which my invention appertains may be enabled to make and use the same, I will proceed to describe it in detail.

In the drawings, A A represent the wheels; B the axle; C the draw-heam; D'D parts of the frame, and E the drivers seat; F F F is a'movable frame, to which by standards g g the plonghs G G are attached, being steadied and strengthened by braces gg, running from the standards to the frame. The drawbenm has a caster, H,under it, andis pivoted at -e to the forward cross-beam of the frame, so as to swing horizontally upon the pivot.. Its rear end has a segmentspur-wheel, c', gearing with ano-ther spur-wheel, t', upon the lower end of the vertical shaft I. i is aratehet or pinion on the shaft I, `and z' is a pawl attached to the frame F, to keep the shaft I from turning when it is not desirable to change the direction of the instrument. A hand-wheel .or crank, I', is fixed to the upper end of the shaft I. It is evident that by turning this hand-wheelv or crank thedirection of the draw-beam will be changed at pleasure, and consequently the direction in which the gangplough will move will be also changed. The forward end of the frameF F has trucksff, which run on longitudinal rails'K K. c Icare arms hinged at'their lower extremities to the rails K K, and held in place by springs 7c" c.. It will be observed that the upper end of the arms c c are notched transversely. The use of these arms will be hereafter explained. The rear end of the movable frame F F rests upon a shaft, L, running across the instrument and bearing in the frame D D. This shaft is bent, forming cranks at both its ends, and bears on the handles of the cranks, the whole shaft thus forming a double crank, its central arm carrying the frame F F. As this shaft is caused to revolve, it alternately elevates and depresses the rear end of the frame F F and the ploughs attached to it, the frame sliding longitudinallyv on the rails K K, to accommodate itself to the motion ofthe crank-shaft. Attached to the right end of 4the shaft. L, just where it enters its bearings, is the wheel M, having cogs, and bearing the endless chain M. This chain runs vforward over another cog-wheel m, worked by a crank, m', by the hand of the driver, by which the ploughs may be elevated or depressed at pleasure. 'lhe rails K K, it will be observed, are of peculiar shape, being horizontal from their forward end to the point where the arms k c are attached, when they rise with a steeprincline, e, for a short distance, then becoming at z nearly horizontal, and finally terminate in almost a perpendicular direction. v This is done to regulate the direction of the ploughs. When the rear end of the frame F is depressed, its forward end rests upon the lower portion of the rails K K. When the rear end is elevated to its highest point, the forward endrests upon the horizontal portion rv of the rails K K. When about'half elevated the forward end rests upon the top of the arms k k, the trucksff falling into the notches upon the upper 'ond of these arms. Now imagine the rear end of frameF depressed, the trucks ffresting on thelower horizontal portion of the rails K K at about Z, and

proceed to gradually turn the shaft L so as to elevate the rear end of the frame. As you .do so, the trucks will run back along the rail till they arrive at the foot of the incline e; Now observe the position of the frame F F and ploughs attached to it. It is evident that the rear end of the frame has 'been raised through nearly one-half the distance it's'capable of being elevated, while its forward end has not been raised at all. The rear ploughs will therefore be new vout ofthe ground or nearly so, while the forward plough wil-l hardly be perceptibly lifted. The direction of the forward plough will, however, have been changed by the operation, and it will now be more nearly perpendicular than it was before.

Suppose all this to havebeen done before starting, while the ploughs are all out of the ground. Now upon putting the instrument in operation, the forward plough will immediately catch in the soil and enter the ground in the proper manner, and A then as the team moves along, all the rear ploughs will follow the forward one and enter the ground in their turn, by a simple revolution of the crank m", so as to depress them to the proper point. It is evident that I have here the means for elevating and depressing all the ploughs in such amanner' that the points of all shall be in the ground or out of the ground, or so that the point of the forward plough shall be in the ground while those of the rear ploughs shall lbe nearly or quite out of the ground. Without some additional arrangement, a difliculty would here arise, however, in practical operation. For there being nothingto prevent the shaft L from turning by the application of force, it would follow that whenever-'the ploughs caught in the ground the frame would be forced back, the crank turned a quarter round ormore, and

the ploughs half raised or wholly raised from the ground so as to become inoperative. To meet this difiiculty I have provided the attachment shown particularly in fig. ,consisting of the rod N, having the hook ors'houlder n on its rear end, and hinged at n to, the plate O, which passes through the axle and is secured to it by a bolt, in connection with the leverP, the rear end of which' is hinged tothe rear end of rod N at p. p is a spring attached to rod N and operating upward against lever P. The forward end of lever P comes up to the driver s seat so as to be easily handled by him. The `lever pivots either over the axle B, or on a. pin in lugs attached to a cross-beam ofthe frame D D. When the crank-shaft L is elevated or depressed, the shoulder upon the under side of the rod N may, by depressing the rear end of the rod,- be made to catch the crank-shaft and hold it firmly in that position, the whole draught of the ploughs thus coming almost directly upon the rod'N. The shaft L may be held in this position as long as is desirable, and then released by depressing the forward end of the lever P. It is evident here that the angle made by thevshoulder upon the rod N must be considerably sharp, forming a sort ef barb or hook to hold the shaft L safely. If it were not less than a right langle it might slipA off of the shaft. But if less than a-right angle, so as to hold the shaft firmly, anew diilculty arises: `with the great draught upon it above described, it will be almost impossible to disengage the shoulder from the shaft. There must then be some means of increasing or diminishing at pleasure the angle made by the shoulder with its rod N,- so as either to hold or to release the shaft L. This is accomplished by means of the arm 1', working in a slot in the rod N and shoulder, and pivoted at itsupper end to the rod N, behind which, in the same slot, works a key or second arm, r', fixed to the lever l?, and moving up and down in the slot. The arm r being wedge-shaped, its point attached to the lever and its head downward, whenever it is raised its head'throws the lower end of the arm r forward making, the angle referred to sharper, and whenever it is depressed itallows the lower end of the arm 7' to recede again, making theangle more obtuse. New by being attached to the lever P it will be raised whenever the rear end of the rod N is depressed, and will be lowered whenever that rod is elevated. Thus to make the angle obtuse und cause it to release the shaft L, simply depress-the for-ward end of the lever P; this is all that is needed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desireto secureby Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of theV draw-beam C, having the segment spur-wheel c', with the vertical shaft Ihaving the spur-wheel z', substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination o'f the movable frame F F with theV s haft L, i'iheel M, endless chain M', and wheel m, worked by the crank fm', substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination of the rails K K, springs -k Ic', arms4 k 7c, trucksff, and frame F F, substantially as and forthe purpose described.

4. The combination of the rod' N, spring p', leve-r P, and arms r and r', substantially as andv for theipurpose specified.

To Athe above specification of my improvement I have signed my hand this 29th day of May, 1867.

ROBERT R. GRAVES. Witnesses:

CHARLES A. Pnr'rm, SoLoN G.' KEMON. 

